PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
les sons for all our student s
throughout key stages 3 and 4. Once
we had this structure, we could start
to build a meaningful programme.
W
hat does a typical
day look like
for you?
A typical day for me is
likely to be the same for all career
leaders out there: ‘squeezing in’ all
the demands of careers into a
very tight schedule. Typically, I am
spinning plates.
To give you an example of a recent
Friday, I sent four or five emails
throughout the day to get contacts
to commit to our career market
and to start to book in work-
experience places for year 10. I had
a quick meeting with student
services to check the booklets were
I love making links with professionals
and businesses for the school
ready for year 10 work experience
and went through the year 11 college
application dates.
I read through the hundreds of
emails we get as career leads to
check I wasn’t missing an opportunity
for our students, and noticed a STEM
event that I’d booked for us. I met
with my career ambassadors to ask
them to improve the career
noticeboard for me and I posted a
useful link about apprenticeships on
our LinkedIn alumni account.
W
hat personal
qualities make
a good careers
leader?
A genuine interest in improving the
knowledge our young people have
about the ever-changing jobs
market and future careers and a
passion for getting out there and
making links for the school.
For us, in Manchester, it’s all about
digital technology and construction,
so I have added more computer
science lessons to the curriculum
and we take our students to a lot of
digital roadshows, especially ones
aimed at female students.
We’ve also teamed up with local
archi tect s and the Stephen
Lawrence Foundation to run projects
around construction in our careers
lessons. This helps bring careers to
life and makes them relevant.
W
hich Gatsby
Benchmark is
proving most
challenging?
Benchmark 4 (linking curriculum
learning to careers), which I think will
be the case for a lot of schools. As
career leads, we can do a lot, but you
need everybody in the school to help
with benchmark 4 in order to get that
meaningful curriculum content
delivered by external professionals.
Our maths department puts on
a fantastic maths morning with lots
of professionals who use maths in
their everyday jobs. Other faculties
saw the success and now want a slice
of the action – a movement is born.
W
hat is the most
rewarding thing
about your role?
I love making links with
professionals and businesses for the
school. It ’s time consuming, and you
have to be patient, but it pays off.
A nd which is the
most demanding?
W hat impact do you
feel you are
having in your
school?
D o you have any
tips for other
careers leaders?
Work experience is every
career
leader’s
nightmare! You have to get the whole
year group out and it is so hard finding
places. I aim to support our students
in getting a placement which
interests them, but you can’t always
find the businesses that are willing to
make the investment in time.
The biggest impact, and the most
rewarding, has been around our NEET
(not in employment, education or
training) figures, which are below the
national average. I feel students are
better prepared when they leave us;
they know which career area they
would like to go into and so get
themselves on the correct further
educational courses. This positive
start is invaluable.
Don’t get overwhelmed,
just tackle one or two things and do
them well (I know this is easier said
than done, though). Good luck, it
really is a fantastic role.
Would you like to be profiled?
If you are your school's named
careers leader, email us at :
sarah@futuretalentgroup.com
FUTURE TALENTED // 41